Guest Post: Branded, Independent Thought, and more with Professor John A. Tures

 

Please welcome Professor John A. Tures to the blog today….

 

My name is John A. Tures and my book is Branded, published by Huntsville Independent Press (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/product-page/branded), and it’s a story about a product placement scandal and the attempt by researchers to uncover what really happened.

Remember the O.J. Simpson slow-speed chase?

Even if you were pretty young, you’ve probably seen it on a Netflix documentary.

Here’s a trivia question: What was the vehicle?

Spoiler Alert Here: White Ford Bronco

Most people recognize the make and model, even the color when I ask them.

Now who was with O.J. Simpson in the car?

Probably need to Google it. I’ve had one person at a book event know the answer.

You may not know this, but Ford was strongly considering phasing out the Bronco, but after the incident, they all sold out. The company kept it around for at least a decade. And now they’re back, thanks to all of those O. J. Simpson documentaries.

Here’s a second trivia question: There was a notorious unsolved case of a serial killer, who was inserting cyanide into capsules for a painkiller throughout Chicago in the early 1980s.

What was the painkiller?

Spoiler Alert Here: Tylenol

Did you also know that their parent company, Johnson & Johnson had to spend billions on recalling all of the capsules, replacing them with caplets?

Here’s the “what if:” What if the O.J. Simpson slow speed chase was manufactured to sell White Ford Broncos? What if a rival painkiller paid to put a hit on Tylenol in a bid for market share?

In my story Branded, a marketing professor and his students unwittingly uncover part of the scheme while entering a marketing competition involving research and presentations. The cases are fictitious, as are the characters, but they’ll feel real.

It rarely takes one person to pull off this kind of research. The protagonist will get help from his wife (a tenured professor at their college), the students, fellow faculty and others at the college, and even their kids. It’s a little different from some thrillers where the main character is super wealthy or has access to untapped resources. It’s a David-and-Goliath story, but one where you’ll find yourself at the end saying “Yeah, I can see that happening.”

My second book Independent Thought comes out later this summer, also published by Huntsville Independent Press. When people find out that I am a political science professor, they don’t ask if I am a Democrat or Republican, or if I’m a conservative or liberal. They ask me “Why don’t we have a third party in America?”

In Independent Thought, several characters from Branded are recruited to help with a new third party. Led by a political maverick, the organizers of the new party find out just how hard it is to start a third party, and all of the barriers they face.

Just as the new party gets its footing, and starts to challenge the political establishment, strange things and accidents seem to happen to the members of the campaign. What could be behind these incidents? And the aftermath of the election may be more exciting than the voting itself!

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4evuAxY

 

 

John A. Tures ©2026

The author, John A. Tures, started writing at age 15 for the El Paso Herald-Post, then continued in college for the school’s newspaper. After earning his doctorate, he became a weekly columnist for a number of newspapers and magazines. In 2020, he started working on Branded, which came out late last year. A third book, Moral Hazard, in the editing stage covers an international crisis and its impact on U.S. politics. https://www.johntures.com/ 

Guest Post: The Inspiration Behind "Murder on Vacation" Wasn't Murder After All by Gerald Elias

 

Please welcome author Gerald Elias to the blog today. As I recently noted in a “Thursday Treats” post, Mr. Elias’ latest book is his short story collection. Published by White City Press, Murder on Vacation: Stories from the Case Files of Maury Gross, NYPD (Ret.), is available at the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors in digital and print formats.

 

Where does an author get ideas for a story? From personal experience? Deep contemplation? From a passing comment or casual glimpse? From other authors? Totally from out of the blue?

 

How about by accident?

 

Eight years ago, my wife and I stayed at a modest motel on the beach in the cozy coastal town of Cambria, California, in order to attend our niece’s ritzy wedding in wine country. During our stay, which lasted only a long weekend, three curious things popped out to me. (Maybe they were curious only to me because murder mysteries run in my blood.)

 

The first was an elderly couple strolling along the beach’s boardwalk. What was curious about that? Not that they were elderly—Who isn’t these days?—but that the gentleman in question was dressed in what his wife—who I imagined determined his attire–– probably considered appropriate for a California vacation: a 1950s style pair of Bermuda shorts and a gaudy Hawaiian shirt. And ankle-length, black socks—Don’t forget those—to round out the eye-catching ensemble.

 

The second curiosity was a state-of-the-art Porsche sportscar in the motel’s parking lot, which might have cost more than the motel itself.

 

The third and final item was the colony of dozens of elephant seals lolling on the beach about 10 miles north of us. In your mind’s eye, do not mistake an elephant seal for a sea lion. They’re twice as big, up to 4,000 nasty pounds, with a protruding proboscis which gives them their name. They only spend about a month per year out of the water, and you can imagine what they do while on shore leave, like most seafarers: rest, fight, and screw. And when they fight, it’s not for play. It’s for keeps: to become king of the hill or, more appropriately, king of the beach. Why? To win the dear damsel of choice, of course. Why else?

 

As my wife and I observed elephant seal festivities safely ensconced on a bluff with a chain link fence high above the beach, I got an idea to package curiosities one and two together with number three and write a short mystery. What emerged after a few days of resharpened pencils and crumpled paper was a draft of a story I initially called “Elephant Seals,” starring retired NYPD Police Chief Maury Gross and his wife Bobbi (the couple on the boardwalk).

 

I wrote this story only to amuse my wife and myself, with no further thoughts about where it might end up. But I really liked my two protagonists, and so did my wife, so on our next vacation I gathered more curiosities for a story. And the next. And the next…

 

Fifteen Maury Gross stories later, I had spanned the wonders of our great nation from sea to shining sea and decided they were worthy candidates for a collection. There is a great saga to be told how I ultimately found the perfect publisher in White City Press, but that’s another story in its entirety.

 

Suffice it to say that Maury Gross is the nicest, most unassuming and thoughtful cop you’d ever want to meet, and Bobbi is not only his longtime soulmate but also his astute partner in crime solving. And they’re both sharp as a tack.

 

The title of the first story, “Elephant Seals,” was changed to “Murder on Vacation” and, appropriately, is the name of the whole collection. If you’re looking for entertaining summer reading, here’s my advice: get an ice-cold beverage, a comfortable chair or lounge, a shady spot, and Murder on Vacation. As Maury would say, “What’s not to like?”  

 

 

Amazon Associates Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4alkqNN

 

 

Gerald Elias ©2026

 

Silver Falchion finalist Gerald Elias can’t help writing about everything that interests him, from his Daniel Jacobus mystery series (and audiobooks) set in the dark corners of the classical music world, to his Western mystery, Roundtree Days. His short story collections, It’s a Crime! and Murder on Vacation (May, 2026, White City Press) cover everything from spies to sea elephants.

 

A former Boston Symphony musician, Elias is an internationally recognized violinist, conductor, and composer. He spends his free time enjoying the outdoors, travel, coffee, good food, and most of all, being a devoted grandpa. https://www.mysteriesandmusic.com/

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